A big blow for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the middle of their clash against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, March 29 for the second match of the IPL 2026 season. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane left the field limping.
Ajinkya Rahane had to leave the field due to injury. In Rahane’s absence, team vice-captain Rinku Singh will take command of the team. Occurs after the conclusion of Example 4th Over of the second innings.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane left the field due to injury.
Varun Chakravarthy was about to take his run-up for the fifth over when Ajinkya Rahane lay down on his back on the ground. Play had to be stopped briefly as physios rushed to the field to help the injured fielder. Manish Pandey came as a substitute fielder.
Watch that moment here:
Rahane got injured pic.twitter.com/f4uGKPznfs
– Nick Knight (@KnightNick34590) 29 March 2026
This was definitely a big blow for the team as the team was at a crucial juncture in the match and Ajinkya Rahane is an experienced campaigner who stepped up and led the team at that time. Throughout his career, the experienced cricketer has seen many pressure situations, and he knows how to deal with those difficult situations.
Rinku Singh is the acting captain in the absence of Ajinkya Rahane.
In Rahane’s absence, the responsibility of taking the team forward in the match rests on the shoulders of Rinku Singh, who was made the vice-captain ahead of the IPL 2026 season. Rinku Singh, he gathered some experience regarding leadership duties through some domestic games. This will be a big moment for him and his ability as a captain will also be tested for a moment.
After the first innings of the match, Kolkata Knight Riders were in the driving seat as they posted a huge score of 220 runs on the scoreboard. Ajinkya Rahane batted brilliantly with his opening partner Finn Allen and middle-order batsmen Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ringku Singh. Half-centuries from Rahane and Raghuvanshi took the team beyond 200 runs.
Mumbai Indian batsmen dominate at Wankhede Stadium
On home soil, where Mumbai Indians and some of their Indian talent have played a lot of cricket, they got good starts from Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton. As both Sharma and Rickelton scored half-centuries, MI soon reached the 100-run mark.
As the match progresses, the momentum shifts slightly towards the home team, Mumbai Indians. The batting part of Kolkata Knight Riders did their job quite well, but it was their bowling unit that pushed them on the backfoot. While writing this article, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine all conceded at least 11 runs per over in their respective innings.
Read More: Sunil Narine creates history during IPL 2026 match vs MI
